PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Foo, Caroline S.
AU  - Abdelnabi, Rana
AU  - Vangeel, Laura
AU  - De Jonghe, Steven
AU  - Jochamns, Dirk
AU  - Weynand, Birgit
AU  - Neyts, Johan
TI  - Ivermectin does not protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection in the Syrian hamster model
AID  - 10.1101/2022.02.22.481472
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2022.02.22.481472
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/02/24/2022.02.22.481472.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/02/24/2022.02.22.481472.full
AB  - Ivermectin, an FDA-approved antiparasitic drug, has been reported to have in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2. An increasing off-label use of Ivermectin for COVID-19 has been reported. We here assessed the effect of Ivermectin in Syrian hamsters infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Beta (B.1.351) variant. Infected animals received a clinically relevant dose of Ivermectin (0.4 mg/kg subcutaneously dosed) once daily for four consecutive days after which the effect was quantified. Ivermectin monotherapy did not reduce lung viral load and even significantly worsened the SARS-CoV-2-induced lung pathology. Additionally, it did not potentiate the activity of Molnupiravir (Lagevrio™) when combined with this drug. This study contributes to the growing body of evidence that Ivermectin does not result in a beneficial effect in the treatment of COVID-19. These findings are important given the increasing, dangerous off-label use of Ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.